Wilmington, NC News

Lee moves up the coast, Katia passes offshore Thursday, Maria forms

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY)- After a day of strong to sometimes severe thunderstorms in North Carolina on Tuesday, the rainstorm that remains of Tropical Storm Lee will be gentler for us today.

The main area of low pressure is tracking farther up the coast and will near Pennsylvania tonight. The threat for severe weather will shift north as well, with the greatest chances for tornadoes anywhere from Richmond to Philadelphia. For us, most of our activity is overwith, outside of a few widely scattered tropical downpours – mostly east of Wilmington.

Drier air will move in overnight and eliminate the oppressive humidity across the area. This will mean comfortable weather for the end of the week and the weekend.

Hurricane Katia has weakened to a category 1 storm and will move closer to the US today. However, heading into tonight the storm will begin to get picked up in the strong southerly jet that is positioned along the East Coast. These winds will funnel the storm northward – splitting the difference between North Carolina and Bermuda on Thursday.

While we will not see any wind or rain from Katia, her effects are already being felt at area beaches. Dangerous rip currents and high surf will be present through at least Friday. Swimmers are urged to stay out of the water.

Looking farther out to see, Tropical Storm Maria has formed in the central Atlantic. The storm is extremely far from land, and any track forecasts are speculation at this point. However, the storm should take a track farther south than Katia, and will bear watching through next week.

This entry was posted
on Wednesday, September 7th, 2011 at 2:09 pm and is filed under Wilmington.
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